Street, pavement cafes and furniture

Alfresco pavement cafes

The Government has put emergency rules in place to help local businesses set up temporary outside seating to allow for social distancing measures in response to Covid-19.

These temporary licences are known as pavement licences or alfresco licences for bars, restaurants, pavement cafes or street cafes.

Apply for a temporary pavement licence

You can apply for a temporary alfresco licence to put furniture on pedestrian parts of the adopted highway using our quick and simple process.

We cannot grant a licence for premises on private or unadopted roads or land which is not a pedestrianised part of an adopted highway.You must check that you are on an adopted road by checking our road gazetteer.

Only the named person responsible for the main premises using the outside space can apply for this license. You do not need to seek planning permission for a temporary licence.

To apply you will need:

• the full name and address of the premises
• the premises license or club premises certificate number (if you will be selling alcohol)
• contact details for the license holder of the premises
• a sketch plan of the proposed licensed area showing basic dimensions (this does not need to be detailed as a site assessment will be carried out) example of a sketch plan for a pavement cafe (PDF, 54KB)
• to have checked the space is on an adopted road 
• your certificate of public liability insurance to cover at least £5 million

Your application must meet our Terms and Conditions of the alfresco dining temporary licences policy (PDF, 533KB) 

You will need to print the Notice at the end of your application or download the PDF to print, sign and display.

After you apply for a temporary pavement licence

Your application will be processed within 10 working days.

In the meantime you will need to display a notice advertising your application at the premises for 5 working days from submission of the application. You can print this from the screen after you submit your application. 

If we receive any objections we will contact you to see if we can grant the licence with or without changes.

Your temporary licence is valid from the date it is granted until the 30 September 2023. 

If you have any questions please call 0300 123 5020 or email: alfresco.licences@cheshireeasthighways.org

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Page last reviewed: 04 October 2022